A patient with lepromatous leprosy and anticytoskeletal antibodies.

Sera from 34 patients with lepromatous leprosy were screened for the presence of autoantibodies by indirect immunofluorescence using two epithelial cell lines, PTK2 and HEp2, as substrates. Indirect immunofluorescence staining of both substrates with the serum of a patient with lepromatous leprosy revealed a cytoplasmic intermediate filament staining pattern. After exposure of PTK2 cells to colchicine, the filaments collapsed into thick perinuclear coils, confirming the presence of intermediate filament reactivity. Immunofluorescence of rat fibroblasts with the same serum also revealed an intermediate filamentous staining pattern. Human keratinocytes exposed to the patient's serum revealed a diffuse cytoplasmic staining pattern. Our study suggests the presence of autoantibodies to cytoskeletal intermediate filaments or to molecules associated with vimentin and possibly keratin subunit proteins in the serum of a patient with lepromatous leprosy.

Mechanism of phagocytosis of mycobacteria by Schwann cells and their comparison with macrophages.

Factors influencing the phagocytosis of mycobacteria by 33B rat Schwannoma cells and rat peritoneal macrophages were studied. Uptake of 14C-acetate-labeled Mycobacterium w by these cells was used to set up a radiometric phagocytosis assay. Incubation at 4 degrees C and treatment with sodium azide (0.2% to 1%), colchicine (10(-7) to 10(-3) M), cytochalasin B (0.2 micrograms/ml to 25 micrograms/ml), and dibutyryl cyclic AMP (10(-7) to 10(-3) M) inhibited the phagocytosis by both cell types in a similar manner. These experiments demonstrate similarities in the mechanism of phagocytosis of mycobacteria by Schwann cells and macrophages.

The effect of diamino diphenyl sulfone on the embryonic development of eggs from the sea urchin (Lytechinus variegatus).

Diamino diphenyl sulfone (DDS), a chemotherapeutic compound used in the treatment of leprosy, was studied with regard to its effects on the embryonic development of eggs from the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. DDS disturbs the normal development of fertilized eggs by interfering with the mitotic apparatus and producing spheroid-shaped bodies shown to be aster-like bodies by staining techniques. A typical colchicine effect (formation of kidney-shaped cells) was also demonstrated.

Antigen specific macrophage-lymphocyte interaction in lepromatous leprosy.

Peripheral blood derived macrophages from lepromatous leprosy patients were unable to interact with lymphocytes in the presence of M. leprae. This lack of interaction is probably not associated with membrane HLA-Dr antigens since trypsin and colchicine restored M. leprae induced depression in the latter but were unable to bring about a positive interaction. Two possible defects exist therefore in the lepromatous macrophage. These are an innate inability to process and present M. leprae antigens to lymphocytes and an induced inability to express some membrane receptors, an event detrimental to the normal functioning of a macrophage.

Alterations in the membrane of macrophages from leprosy patients.

Macrophage cultures pulsed with viable Mycobacterium leprae were assessed for erythrocyte rosetting in three groups of individuals, i.e., normal subjects, and tuberculoid and lepromatous patients. Of these, only the lepromatous group showed a reduction in rosetting ability after infection with M. leprae. The specificity of such a reduction pattern was confirmed by using various mycobacteria to infect the macrophages. A threshold effect was noted in all three groups. Although a reduction was obtained in the amount of rosetting of macrophages from lepromatous patients with 10(4) acid-fast bacilli per culture, tuberculoid and normal macrophages resisted such an effect with as large a dose as 20 X 10(6) to 30 X 10(6) and 30 X 10(6) bacilli per culture, respectively. The M. leprae-caused alterations in macrophages from lepromatous patients were reversible by treatment with trypsin and colchicine. Cytochalasin B and Tween 80 were unable to alter the pattern. Treatment of cells with neuraminidase was inconclusive since it enhanced rosetting values of both control and infected cultures. These manipulations were significant in elucidating the target point of the host (macrophage) and parasite (M. leprae) interaction and in delineation of the external and internal effects upon the macrophages. Both M. leprae and macrophages were participants in Fc reduction, as treatment of the former with rifampicin and of the latter with cyclocheximide significantly augmented the rosetting ability. In conclusion, it appears that M. leprae, upon entering a lepromatous macrophage, initiates the production of a protein which acts via the microtubules to alter membrane topography. It is possible that the altered membrane prevents effective macrophage-lymphocyte interaction. This could be one of the mechanisms by which cell-mediated immunity is suppressed in lepromatous leprosy.

CHO mutants resistant to colchicine, colcemid or griseofulvin have an altered beta-tubulin.

Single-step mutants of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been isolated which are resistant to killing by the anti-mitotic drugs colchicine, colcemid or griseofulvin. Two-dimensional gel analysis showed that two mutants resistant to griseofulvin, one resistant to colcemid and one resistant to colchicine carry an alteration in the beta-tubulin subunit. Most of the remaining isolates are believed to be permeability mutants on the basis of their cross resistance to drugs which do not interefere with microtubular polymerization or function (Ling and Thompson, 1974; Bech-Hansen, Till and Ling, 1976). A reduced amount of the wild-type beta-tubulin protein remained in each of the beta-tubulin mutants, but a beta-tubulin protein with a more basic isoelectric point also appeared. Messenger RNAs coding for both wild-type and variant beta-tubulins were found in at least one mutant as assayed by in vitro translation in a reticulocyte lysate. This indicates that the altered tubulin does not arise as the result of a posttranslational modification.